By the year 2050, the African American elderly population is expected to more than triple while the white elderly population is expected to double. Previous work in Scandinavian countries has indicated that obesity is one lifestyle factor that is associated with disability pensions. There has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S. in recent years, however, very little is known about the associations between obesity and retirement issues in the U.S. Current evidence indicates that African American men and women aged 45 years and older are more likely to report being unable to work because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem than white men and women. It is also known that the prevalence of obesity is almost twice that in African American women compared to white women. The purpose of this research is to determine long-term and short-term associations between obesity, weight gain and retirement among African American and white men and women. Analyses targeting long-term associations will examine the effect of body mass index at age 25 on subsequent age of retirement. Short-term associations will be examined as the effect of body mass index in later adulthood on retirement in the subsequent 3 years. We will also examine associations between weight gain from age 25 to later adulthood and retirement. The proposed study will use extant data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort. Information on retirement status is available from 2,314 African American women, 1,620 African American men, 4,517 white women, and 5,409 white men aged 45-64 years at baseline (1987-1989) and examined at 3-year intervals in a maximum of 4 visits. Retirement will be assessed using information on employment status at each visit. Information on measured weight and height, self-reported weight at age 25 and several other pertinent variables will also be used in these analyses. This proposal is directly responsive to PA-01-082 to "... support researchers interested in undertaking secondary data analyses of data related to ... behavioral research on aging" and "... determinants of retirement .... "